Ingress data queue management in a packet data router

ABSTRACT

Methods and system architectures are disclosed for controlling the processing of data packets in a router, which stores received data packets in one or more ingress data queues. In a first aspect of the disclosure, packets held in an ingress data queue are processed by the router at a dynamically adjusted packet flow rate. The ingress data queue has a data queue head structure, including a packets-to-be-processed field. The packets-to-be-processed field has a value indicating a selected number of packets to be processed from the ingress data queue in a given processing interval. In this manner, the packet flow rate of the ingress data queue is adjusted by varying the value of the packets-to-be-processed field, based on current operating conditions (e.g., current processor or memory utilization) of the router.

RELATED APPLICATION DATA

The present application is related to U.S. application Ser. No. 09/407,713, entitled, “Quality Of Service Management In A Packet Data Router System Having Multiple Virtual Router Instances,” which was filed on Sep. 28, 1999 and which is fully incorporated herein by reference for all it additionally teaches and discloses. The present application is also related to U.S. application Ser. No. 09/407,712, entitled, “Quality Of Service Management In A Packet Data Router System Having Multiple Virtual Router Instances,” which was filed on Sep. 28, 1999 and which is fully incorporated herein by reference for all it additionally teaches and discloses.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention pertains generally to the field of packet data networks and, more particularly, to system architectures and methods for regulating and managing the flow of data packets in a packet data router.

BACKGROUND

In a typical packet data router, packets originating from various source locations are received via a plurality of communication interfaces. Each packet contains routing information, such as a destination address, which is associated with a respective communication interface of the router, e.g., by a routing table or packet forwarding protocol. The router reads the routing information of each received packet and, if it recognizes the information, forwards the packet to the appropriate communication interface for further transmission to its destination. Packets without known destination address or forwarding protocol information are typically dropped.

Due to normal ebbs and flows in packet data traffic patterns and volume, a packet data router may be unable to immediately route newly received packets to respective designated communication interfaces. In particular, packet data traffic tends to have bursts of high activity, which is followed by lulls. Thus, a packet data router may be characterized as having a sustained data rate and a burst data rate. When receiving a burst of packet traffic, the router will temporarily store the received packets in an associated memory until t has the processing capacity available to process and forward the packets to their respective outgoing communication interface. When the sustained or burst data rates of a router are exceeded for a certain period of time, it is inevitable that further incoming packets will be dropped. Of course, while sometimes unavoidable, dropping unprocessed packets is undesirable because the source will then retransmit the dropped packet as part of its recovery procedure, which tends to prolong the congested state of the packet router and cause further unprocessed packets to be dropped.

Packet data network users often share either a single router, or router system, from a service provider. Multiple different internet users, for example, may connect via respective data modems or primary rate interface (“PRI”) lines to a single internet protocol (“IP”) router, or IP router system, operated by an internet service provider (“ISP”). These end users may be single customers themselves, or there may be multiple (e.g., networked) users combined as a single customer account by the ISP. Each customer account may be allocated a respective level of service priority and packet throughput bandwidth by the ISP, depending on the type and level of service connectivity that is contracted for.

For purposes of clarification, as referred to herein, a “router” is defined as a physical (as opposed to logical) entity having a defined number of physical communication interfaces (e.g., modems) under the control of one or more processors collectively executing a single control function. Typically, a single physical router operates under a single routing domain—i.e., wherein a packet received on any communication interface may be forwarded only to the same, or any other communication interface of the router. As referred to herein, a “router system” is defined as two or more independent routers, with an external controller for selectively directing common (incoming) packet data traffic to respective routers within the system.

It is known to implement within a single router one or more virtual router instances (“VRIs”). Each VRI has its own subset of communication interfaces, or logical circuits on a shared communication interface, and its own routing domain, but still under the control of a common control function with the other packet traffic handled by the router. In particular, a VRI exists as a collection of processes performed by the router, which correspond roughly to the layers in the TCP/IP protocol model. For example, a private network can be configured as a VRI, so that packet data may only be exchanged between end users on the same network. It has also been proposed to have a single VRI span multiple routers in a router system. For example, one suggested implementation is to have a dedicated interface link bridging respective communication interfaces of multiple routers having a common VRI.

Because of varying and often unpredictable growth rates, as well as other economic factors, a packet router, or packet router system, will not necessarily have the processing or memory capacity to simultaneously provide the contracted for bandwidth allocation for every user or VRI it services. Further, various users will connect to the IP router at different, often unpredictable, times and with varying rates and bandwidth needs.

An IP router is typically controlled with a real time operating system (“RTOS”), which allows multiple processes of different priorities to co-exist under the control of a common control function (e.g., within a single central processing unit). For example, the RTOS may have sensors that provide feedback information regarding current usage characteristics for a given user, which is used to adjust the RTOS operating parameters in response to changes in demand. Common applications for the RTOS are process control, motion control and, in certain applications, command and control.

The problem is that these operating systems often fail to effectively accommodate the different priority and bandwidth requirements contracted for by the end user customers of the ISP. In a motion control system, for example, the flow of information from sensors is into the system, and the flow of control signals is out of the system. There may be a lot of sensors, and there may be a lot of subsystems being controlled, but the input information does not circulate through the system and become the output. This has the effect of making the inherent control feature of the RTOS process/task priority ineffectual for controlling the system.

A typical IP router is a “packet driven” system. The more data packet it receives, the greater the load, and that load traverses the whole system such that the input is (for all practical purposes) the output. Thus, users whose connection to the router is handling the most packets will tend to monopolize the system resources.

For example, consider a router that is divided into two different VRIs, with each VRI having roughly the same number of end users and paying an ISP for the same quality of service (“QOS”), including identical priority and bandwidth requirements. Thus, the router should be able to provide the end users of each VRI with the same number of bits-per-second (“BPS”) system throughput at any given time. Suppose, however, that the router processing capability is barely adequate to handle the peak load of even one of the VRIs without dropping unprocessed packets. If users of the first VRI have, in effect, tied up the router throughput processing capabilities, the users of the second VRI will not receive the service priority and bandwidth they are otherwise entitled to.

Thus, there is a need for methods and system architectures for more fairly regulating the processing of data packets through a packet data router, or router system, whereby the quality of service is balanced for each user and/or VRI, and wherein the system is kept stable, even when heavy loads occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, a method is provided for controlling the processing of data packets in a packet data router by dynamically adjusting the rate at which packets held in a respective ingress data queue are processed based on current operating conditions of the router.

In a preferred embodiment, the ingress data queue has a data queue head structure including a packets-to-be-processed field and a sustained-data-rate field. The packets-to-be-processed field stores a value indicating a number of packets held in the ingress data queue that are to be processed by the router during a given processing interval. In this manner, the packet flow rate of the ingress data queue may be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the value of the packets-to-be-processed field based on current operating conditions of the router, such as, e.g., such as processor or memory utilization. The sustained-data-rate field stores a value indicating a target (e.g., maximum) data processing rate, in bits-per-second, for the ingress data queue. The value of the packets-to-be-processed field is normally based on the sustained-data-rate of the ingress data queue.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, a method of dynamically adjusting the packet flow rate of an ingress data queue includes detecting whether a burst of data packets has been (or is being) received on the queue. In a preferred embodiment, the data queue head structure includes both a burst-data-rate field and a burst-duration field. The burst-data-rate field stores a value indicating a selected rate for processing data packets held in the ingress data queue if a received burst of data packets has been detected—i.e., which is greater than the sustained-data rate. When a data burst is detected, the packets-to-be-processed field is recalculated based on the burst-data-rate, instead of the sustained-data-rate. The burst-duration field stores a value indicating a time period for sustaining the processing rate of the ingress data queue based on the burst-data-rate. In this manner, the packet flow rate of the ingress data queue may be further controlled by increasing or decreasing the values of the burst-data-rate field or of the burst-duration field.

In accordance with a still further aspect of the invention, the data queue head structure of an ingress data queue is also provided with a queue-depth field, which stores a value indicating the current amount of router memory allocated to store data packets in the ingress data queue. Once this limit is reached, any further packets directed to the ingress data queue will be dropped. Depending on current operating conditions of the router, the queue-depth field may be increased or decreased in order to adjust the memory utilization of the router—i.e., by limiting the number of packets that may be held in the router memory for processing at any given interval.

In accordance with a yet another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for controlling the processing of data packets in a packet data router by dynamically adjusting the rate at which packets held in a plurality of ingress data queues are processed based on current operating conditions of the router.

In a preferred embodiment, the packet flow rate of each ingress data queue is adjusted independently of the packet flow of the other ingress data queues, thereby allowing for flexible management and control on an ingress data queue level. The method preferably also includes detecting whether a burst of data has been received on at least one of the plurality of ingress data queues. For example, the packet-flow rate of a first ingress data queue may be increased, while simultaneously decreasing the packet flow rate of a second ingress data queue, in order to accommodate processing of a burst of packets received on the first queue without jeopardizing the overall system throughput and operational stability of the router.

In accordance with a still further aspect of the invention, the data queue head structure of each of a plurality of ingress data queues is provided with a queue-depth field, which stores a value indicating the current amount of memory allocated to store data packets in the respective ingress data queue. In a preferred embodiment, the queue-depth fields of each ingress data queue are independently increased or decreased in order to control memory utilization—i.e., by limiting the number of packets that may be held in the router memory for processing at any given interval on any given ingress data queue. In a preferred embodiment, memory utilization is also be controlled by adjusting the packet flow rate(s) of one or more ingress data queue(s).

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, other and further aspects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like components, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a preferred packet data router employed as an internet gateway for multiple end users;

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of ingress data queues stored in memory in the router of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a box diagram illustration of a preferred packet flow and memory management process in the router of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a preferred method employed in the router of FIG. 1 to detect and adjust for a received packet data burst on an ingress data queue.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a preferred packet data router 20 employed as an internet gateway by an internet service provider (“ISP”) 22. The router 20 receives “upstream” data packets from a plurality of different end users 24. Based on routing information contained in each received data packet, the router 20 either (1) forwards the packet to a respective internet server 38; (2) forwards the packet to an end user 24 connected to the router 20; or (3) drops the packet due to it having an unknown destination address or being otherwise undeliverable. The router 20 also receives “downstream” data packets from the internet server(s) 38 and, if possible, forwards the received downstream packets to respective end users 24.

The end users 24 may comprise individuals connected to the router 20 over a traditional public switched telephone network (“PSTN”) 26 via, e.g., dial-up modem connections 28, or a basic rate integrated digital services network (“ISDN”) line 30. Respective end user networks 32A and 32B, each comprising a substantial number of end users 24, are connected to the router 20 via respective dedicated T1 lines 34A and 34B, which are also provided as part of the PSTN 26. From the PSTN 26, the respective communication links are forwarded via plurality of dedicated lines 36 to the router 20 at the ISP 22. Other communication links are also possible, such as, e.g., a wireless modem link (not shown), or a coaxial cable modem connection provided over a cable television network (not shown).

Referring to FIG. 2, the router 20 includes one or more processors collectively executing a single control function, which for ease in illustration are collectively shown in FIG. 2 and referred to herein as a single central processing unit (“CPU”) 44. The router 20 also includes a shared buffer memory 46, which is preferably implemented as a dynamic random access memory (“DRAM”). At the router 20, the communication lines 36 from the PSTN 26 are terminated at a communication interface 40, comprising a plurality of a software configurable digital signal processors (“DSPs”) 42. Upstream packets processed (i.e., demodulated) by the DSPs 42 are initially held in respective ingress data queues 48 formed as linked lists in the memory 46.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the ingress data queues 48 are software data structures that hold the stored packets for processing in a first-in, first-out (FIFO) fashion. The ingress data queues 48 implemented in the router 20 have the concept of “depth,”—i.e., a maximum number of stored packets that the respective queue can hold. The particular configuration of the ingress data queues 48 in the memory 46 may vary without departing from the inventive concepts taught herein. Notably, in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 2, each end user 24, networked end user group 32A/32B or VRI 50/52, may have one or more dedicated ingress data queues 48 for storing packets received by the router 20.

For example, data packets received from a first end user group 32A, and only packets received from group 32A, are stored in a first dedicated plurality of ingress data queues 48A. Likewise, data packets received from a second end user group 32B, and only packets received from group 32B, are stored in a second dedicated plurality of ingress data queues 48B. Alternatively, two or more end users 24 may share one or more ingress data queues 48, with a number of possible configurations.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 2, the ingress data queues 48A are implemented within the router 20 as a first VRI 50, and the ingress data queues 48B are implemented as a second VRI 52, with each VRI 50 and 52 having its own routing domain. Notably, the packet processing, or “flow rates” for VRI 50 or VRI 52 are the flow rates of the corresponding respective ingress data queues 48A and 48B.

There may be further VRIs implemented in the router 20, but only the first and second VRIs 50 and 52 are shown for ease in illustration in the inventive concepts herein. What is significant is that each VRI within the router 20 is assigned one or more manageable ingress data queues 48. In alternate preferred embodiments, the location of the manageable queues may be between VRI protocol layers, where the packet drop and delay parameters are known, instead of at the ingress points.

The CPU 44 selectively retrieves packets from the ingress data queues 48 on a FIFO basis, and forwards them to output queues (not shown) associated with the respective output destinations, or otherwise drops packets that are non-deliverable. The packets from each respective ingress data queue 48 are processed by the CPU 44 at a given “packet flow rate,” which is defined generally as a number of packets processed by the CPU 44 from the respective ingress data queue 48 during a given processing interval. The packet flow rates of each ingress data queue 48 may differ and, as described in greater detail are controlled by a flow management process, or “flow manager” 53, which is a part of the RTOS of the router 20.

As will be apparent, if immediate processing by the CPU 44 of packets held in a given ingress data queue 48 is not possible, the length of the queue will increase accordingly. Of course, the memory 46 has a finite capacity for storing packets, and each ingress data queue 48 is allocated only ascertain amount of buffer space in the memory 46. The number of stored packets of each ingress data queue 48 is tracked by a memory management process, or “memory manager” 53, which is a part of the RTOS of the router 20. Notably, the stored packet lengths may vary.

Generally, shared buffer memories, such as DRAMs, are well suited for use in a packet data router in that they provide relatively inexpensive, high storage capacity in a compact form. However, each read or write access into the memory 46 can be relatively time consuming because of the limited data bus bandwidth between the CPU 44 and the memory 46, as well as the inherent row address strobe latency in a DRAM (if applicable). In other words, it is relatively time and processor resource consuming for the CPU 44 to store (write) or retrieve (read) each data packet into or out of the memory 46.

Referring to FIG. 3, the function of the flow manager 54 is to manage and control the data flow of the ingress data queues 48. In a presently preferred embodiment, the flow manager 54 is implemented as a system task that is repeated at a selected interval, e.g., once every second, for each ingress data queue 48. The flow manager 54 monitors the processing of data packets held in each ingress data queue 48 to manage the overall data flow through the router 20 and, in particular, utilization of the CPU 44 and memory 46.

Towards this end, the flow manager 54 maintains a data queue head structure 55 stored in the memory 46 as a header to each respective ingress data queue 48. The data queue head structure 55 includes several data fields employed by the flow manager 54 for controlling the packet flow rate and amount of memory allocated for the respective ingress data queue 48. In a preferred embodiment, the data fields in the data queue head structure 55 include:

(1) A “packets-to-be-processed” field 56 having a value indicating a number of packets held in the respective data queue 48 that are to be processed by the CPU 44 during a given processing interval.

(2) A “queue-count” field 58 having a value indicating the number of packets presently held in the respective data queue 48.

(3) A “bytes-processed” field 60 having a value indicating the number of data bytes processed from the respective data queue 48 during a present processing interval.

(4) A “sustained-data-rate” field 62 having a value, in bits per second, indicating a target maximum data processing rate for the respective data queue 48, e.g., based on a customer service agreement by the ISP 22.

(5) A “burst-data-rate” field 64 having a value, in bits per second, indicating an increased maximum data processing rate for the respective data queue 48, to be temporarily implemented upon receipt of a data burst.

(6) A “burst-duration” field 66 having a value, in seconds (or some fraction thereof, indicating a maximum duration of time for which the data rate specified in the burst-data-rate field 64 shall be maintained upon receipt of a data burst.

(7) A “queue-depth” field 68 indicating the maximum number of packets allowed to be held in the respective data queue 48 at one time—i.e., wherein any further received packets will be dropped until existing stored packets are processed to make room for more to be stored.

(8) A “burst-start” field 70 for holding a time stamp value indicating when receipt of a data burst on the respective data queue 48 has been detected.

(9) A “system-time-stamp” field 72 for holding a time stamp value indicating when a poll of the data queue head structure 54 was last performed.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the actual order of the data fields (1)-(9) is of no particular significance, and many variations are possible without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed herein.

In accordance with a general aspect of the invention, the flow and memory managers 54 and 53 constantly monitor the current operating conditions of the router 20, e.g., processor and memory utilization. The data fields (1)-(9) in each data queue head structure 55 are used by the flow and memory managers 54 and 53 to perform several tasks, including monitoring and adjusting the flow rate, managing the burst data rate and adjusting the memory allocation and usage, respectively, of each ingress data queue 48.

The flow manager 54 also monitors, e.g., as a periodic task, the respective flow rates of each ingress data queue 48 and, if appropriate, makes corresponding adjustments to the packet flow rate of one or more ingress data queues 48 in order to ensure overall system stability is maintained in a manner least impacting end user quality of service (QOS). In particular, system stability of the router 20 and, most importantly, the QOS for each user 24, user group 32A/32B and/or VRI 50/52 served by the router 20 may be best managed through control of the respective packet flow rates and proportional memory allocation of each of the individual ingress data queues 48.

For example, in accordance with a general aspect of the present invention, if processor utilization approaches or exceeds the upper end of a desired operating range, the flow manager 54 will decrease the packet flow rate of one or more ingress data queues 48 by decreasing the corresponding values of the packets-to-be processed field(s) 56. Conversely, if the processor utilization approaches or falls under the lower end of a desired operating range, the flow manager 54 may increase the packet flow rate of one or more ingress data queues 48 by increasing the corresponding values of the packets-to-be processed field(s) 56.

An advantage of controlling the processing of data packets on an ingress data queue level is that the system resources of the router 20 can be fairly distributed, or restricted, without individual end users 24, user groups 32A/32B or VRIs 50/52 being disproportionately impacted. A traditional RTOS of a router, on the other hand, cannot differentiate between end users having the same QOS, but accessing the router on different ingress data queues.

By way of illustration, suppose VRI 50 and VRI 52 have identical QOS profiles, but that at a given instance VRI 50 has only one active end user 24 on their network, while at the same instance VRI 52 has nineteen active end users 24. A traditional router RTOS system would allocate (and restrict) resources equally among the different users, i.e., with 5% of the total bandwidth to each end user 24, despite the fact that the lone end user 24 of VRI 50 should have half (50%) of the available router bandwidth, with the nineteen end users 24 of VRI 52 sharing the other half among themselves.

By being able to control the flow rates of individual ingress data queues, the present invention overcomes this drawback in the prior art. Also, individual user or VRI bandwidth guarantees (i.e., on an ingress data queue level) are possible with the present invention. Further, by controlling the data processing speed of an ingress data queue 48, an ISP 22 may enforce sub-rate bandwidth rates on high speed modems, e.g., allow a 56K modem connection for an end user whose QOS profile is only rated for 28.8K. Most importantly, independent control over the ingress data queues 48 allows for more predictability in dealing with peak traffic loads.

In accordance with this aspect of the invention, the flow manager 54 preferably adjusts the respective flow rates of the ingress data queues 48 independently of one another. Based on respective QOS profiles 74 maintained by the ISP 22, the flow manager 54 will adjust the flow rate of those ingress data queue(s) 48 that will least adversely impact QOS criteria for any one end user 24, user group 32A or 32B and/or VRI 50 or 52.

Certain aspects of each customer QOS profile are maintained in the data queue head structure 55 of each ingress data queue 48. For example, the sustained-data-rate field 62 sets forth a target maximum data processing rate for the respective ingress data queue 48, upon which the value of the packets-to-be-processed field 56 for the respective data queue 48 is calculated. In a preferred embodiment, the sustained-data-rate 62 for each ingress data queue 48 is initially determined based on the maximum allotted rate of any end user 24, user group 32A/32B or VRI 50/52 associated with the respective data queue 48. Thereafter, the sustained-data-rate 62 for each ingress data queue 48 is dynamically based on current operating conditions of the router 20. For example, the packet flow rates of one or more data queues 48A associated with VRI 50 and/or VRI 52 may be periodically adjusted in order to maintain processor utilization of the router 20 within a selected operating range.

The flow manager 54 also manages data bursts that may be received on each ingress data queue 48. The QOS user profiles 74 preferably provide for an end user 24 to be given an additional amount of packet processing bandwidth for a short period of time in order to accommodate for occasional burst packet traffic. For example, an end user 24 may need to transfer a large file once a month. Instead of having to pay for a more expensive sustained data rate bandwidth, the ISP 22 can offer the end user 24 an additional “burst data rate” for a specified duration of time (i.e., “burst duration”).

In a preferred embodiment, the burst-data-rate 64 for a respective ingress data queue 48 is initially determined based on the highest maximum burst data rate guaranteed by the ISP 22 to any end user 24 associated with the respective ingress data queue 48. Similarly, the burst-duration field 66 for a respective ingress data queue 48 is initially determined based on the highest maximum burst duration guaranteed by the ISP 22 to any end user 24 associated with the respective ingress data queue 48. Thereafter, the burst-data-rate 64 and burst-duration 66 are dynamically adjusted for each ingress data queue 48 based on current operating conditions of the router 20.

Notably, the flow manager 54 may allocate differing sustained-data-rate 62, burst-data-rate 64 and burst-duration 66 values for one or more ingress data queues 48 based on off-peak usage criteria, e.g., time of day variances, but will preferably not decrease the flow rate of any ingress data queue 48 below the highest minimum rate guaranteed by the ISP 22 to any end user 24 (e.g., based on the user's QOS profile), associated with the respective ingress data queue 48, unless absolutely necessary to preserve system integrity.

FIG. 4 depicts one preferred process by which the flow manager 54 detects whether a data burst is being received on a respective ingress data queue 48. The flow manager 54 periodically polling each ingress data queue 48 and calculating (at step 78) its current data flow rate 78 (in bits per second). In a preferred embodiment, the flow manager 54 calculates the current flow rate by multiplying the value of the bytes-processed field 60 of the data head queue structure 55 for the respective ingress data queue 48 by eight. The resultant product is then divided by the difference between the current time and the value of the system time-stamp field 72. The flow manager 54 then compares (at step 80) the calculated current packet flow rate with the value in the sustained-data-rate field 62.

If the calculated rate is greater than the sustained-data-rate, the flow manager 54 assumes a data burst is occurring on the respective ingress data queue 48. The flow manager 54 then recalculates (at step 82) the value of the packets-to-be-processed field 56 based on the value of the burst-data-rate field 64, and places a time stamp with the present time in the burst-start field 70. If no received burst is detected,—i.e., if the calculated data rate is equal to or less than the sustained-data-rate field 62,—the flow manager 54 (at step 85) updates the system time stamp field 72 and resets the value of the bytes-processed filed 60 for the next polling cycle.

If a data burst is detected on an ingress data queue 48, the flow manager 54 periodically calculates (at step 84) the duration of the data burst by calculating the difference between the present time and the time stamp in the burst-start field 70. The flow manager then compares (at step 86) the calculated burst duration with the value in the burst-duration field 66.

If the duration of a present data burst is less than the value of the burst-duration field 66, the flow manager maintains (at step 88) the value of the packets-to-be-processed field 56 based on the value of the burst-data-rate field 64. If the duration of the burst has lasted longer than the value of the burst-duration field 66, the flow manager 54 recalculates the value of the packets-to-be-processed field 56 based on the value of the sustained-data-rate field 62.

In a preferred embodiment, the values of the burst-data-rate field 64 and the burst-duration field 66 may be adjusted by the flow manager 54 based on current operating conditions in the router. By way of example, as a customer service benefit, the ISP 22 may configure the flow manager 54 to increase the values of the burst-data-rate field 64 and the burst-duration field 66 so long as the processor utilization of the router 20 is at or below a specified operating range.

With reference back to FIG. 3, the memory manager 53 monitors the respective queue-count and queue-depth fields 58 and 68 for each ingress data queue 48 as part of the memory management process. If overall utilization of the router memory 46 approaches or exceeds the upper end of a desired range, the memory manager 53 will decrease the amount of memory allocated for one or more ingress data queues 48 by decreasing the values of the corresponding queue-depth field(s) 68. Conversely, if utilization of the memory 46 approaches or falls under the lower end of a desired range, the memory manager 54 may increase the amount of memory allocated for one or more ingress data queues 48 by increasing the corresponding values of the queue-depth field(s) 68. In a preferred embodiment, the memory manager 53 increases the queue-depth field 68 of an ingress data queue 48 upon detecting a received data burst. In doing so, it may be necessary to simultaneously decreasing the queue-depth fields 68 of one or more other ingress data queues 48 in order to maintain memory utilization.

As with the packet flow rates, the amount of memory allocated for storing packets in each ingress data queue 48 is preferably determined independently of the memory allocated for all other queues 48. In a preferred embodiment, the queue-depth field 68 is initially determined based on the collective maximum amount of memory allotted for every end user 24, user group 32A/32B and/or VRI 50/52 associated with the respective data queue 48. Thereafter, the queue-depth field 68 for each ingress data queue 48 is dynamically based on current operating conditions of the router 20. For example, the queue-depth fields 68 of one or more data queues 48A associated with VRI 50 and/or VRI 52 may be periodically adjusted in order to maintain utilization of the memory 46 within a selected range.

The memory manager 53 will adjust the queue-depth fields 68 of those ingress data queue(s) 48 that will least adversely impact QOS criteria for any one end user 24, user group 32A or 32B and/or VRI 50 or 52, e.g., based on respective QOS profiles 74 maintained by the ISP 22. Preferably, the memory manager 53 will not decrease the queue-depth field 68 of any ingress data queue 48 below the highest minimum rate guaranteed by the ISP 22 to the collective end users 24, user groups 32A/32B and/or VRIs 50/52 associated with the respective data queue 48.

The operating processes making up the respective memory manager 53 and flow manager 54 are preferably linked to improve the management tools available for the router 20. For example, if processor resources are available, the flow manager 54 will decrease the packet flow rate(s) of one or more ingress data queues 48,—i.e., to increase the processing rate of the stored packet back load,—in order to decrease memory utilization. In fact, if possible, it may be preferred from a QOS point of view to temporarily increase the packet flow rates of those ingress data queues 48 having the highest queue-count fields 58, rather than reduce the queue-depth fields 68, in order to avoid or minimize dropped packets.

While preferred embodiments and applications of the present invention have been shown and described, as would be apparent to those skilled in the art, many modifications and applications are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. Thus, the scope of the disclosed invention is not to be restricted except in accordance with the appended claims. 

What is claimed:
 1. A method for controlling a processing of packets in one or more ingress data queues in a router, at a selected packet flow rate, comprising: managing and controlling a packet flow rate of each of the one or more ingress data queues, which are maintained in a memory in the router, by utilizing a data queue head structure as a header for each of the one or more ingress data queues, wherein the data queue head structure comprises a plurality of data fields including: a packets-to-be-processed field, having a value indicating a number of packets held in the one or more ingress data queues to be processed by the router during a given processing interval, wherein the packet flow rate is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the value of the packets-to-be-processed field and a sustained-data-rate field for indicating a target maximum packet processing rate, wherein a determination of whether a burst of data has been received is made by: setting the value of the sustained-data-rate field to a selected non-burst packet flow rate; calculating a current packet flow rate of the one or more ingress data queues; and comparing the calculated packet flow rate with the value of the sustained-data-rate field.
 2. The method of claim 1, the data queue head structure for each of the one or more ingress data queues, further including: a burst-data-rate field for indicating an increased maximum data processing rate, wherein the value of the packets-to-be-processed field is based on the value of the sustained-data-rate field if no data burst is detected on the one or more ingress data queues or the value of the burst-data-rate field, for a selected duration of time, if a data burst is detected on the one or more ingress data queues.
 3. The method of claim 2, the data queue head structure further including a burst-duration field having a value indicating the selected duration of time for basing the value of the packets-to-be-processed field on the value of the burst-data rate field.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the values of the burst-data-rate field and burst-duration field are adjusted based on current operating conditions in the router.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting whether a burst of data is being received at one of the one or more ingress data queues, and if true, temporarily increasing the packet flow rate of the one of the one or more ingress data queues upon detecting the received data burst.
 6. The method of claim 1, the data queue head structure further including a time-stamp field and a bytes-processed field, wherein a current packet flow rate of the one or more ingress data queues is calculated by setting the value of the time-stamp field to a time that a last calculation of the current packet flow rate was made; setting the value of the bytes-processed field to reflect the number of bytes of data processed since the last packet flow rate calculation; and calculating the packet flow rate of the one or more ingress areas data queues based on the respective values of the time-stamp field and the bytes-processed field.
 7. The method of claim 1, each of the one or more ingress data queues having an allocated amount of memory in the router in which to store received packets, further comprising the steps of: adjusting the amount of memory allocated to store the received packets in each of the one or more ingress data queues based on current utilization of the memory, wherein the data queue head structure of each of the one or more ingress data queues further comprises: a queue-depth field for indicating the maximum number of packets allowed to be held in an associated ingress data queue, wherein the queue depth field can be simultaneously adjusted with respect to the queue-depth fields associated with other of the one or more ingress data queues; a queue-count field for indicating the number of packets presently held in the associated ingress data queue; and monitoring and adjusting the queue-depth field and the queue-count field for optimizing the amount of memory allocated to the received packets in each of the one or more ingress data queues according to a predetermined range.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the packet flow rate of the one or more ingress queues based on current utilization of a router processor.
 9. The method of claim 1, the router having a memory, wherein the packet flow rate of the ingress data queue is adjusted based on current utilization of the memory.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the packet processing rate of each ingress data queue is adjusted independently of the packet processing rate of every other ingress data queue.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of: increasing a packet processing rate of a first queue; and decreasing a packet processing rate of a second queue upon detecting that a burst of data has been received on the first queue.
 12. The method of claim 1, the router comprising one or more processors collectively executing a common control function, the one or more processors having a processor utilization, wherein the packet processing rate of the first queue and the packet processing rate of the second queue are adjusted independently.
 13. An apparatus for controlling processing of packets in one or more ingress data queues in a router, at a selected packet flow rate, comprising: a flow manager for managing and controlling a packet flow rate of each of the one or more ingress date queues, which are maintained in a memory in the router, wherein the flow manager utilizes a date queue head structure as a header for each of the one or more ingress data queues and the data queue head structure comprises a plurality of data fields including: a sustained-data-rate field for indicating a target maximum data processing rate; a packets-to-be-processed field, having a value indicating a number of packets held in the one or more ingress data queues to be processed by the router during a given processing interval, wherein the packet flow rate is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the value of the packets-to-be-processed field, a burst-data-rate field for indicating an increased maximum data processing rate, wherein the value of the packets-to-be-processed field is based on the value of the sustained-data-rate field if no data burst is detected on the one or more ingress data queues or the value of the burst-data rate field, for a selected duration of time, if a data burst is detected on the one or more ingress data queues; and a burst-duration field having a value indicating a selected duration of time for basing the value of the packets-to-be-processed field on the value of the burst-data rate field, wherein the flow manager can determine whether a burst of data has been received by setting the sustained-data-rate field to a selected non-burst packet flow rate; calculating a current packet flow rate of the one or more ingress data queues; and comparing the calculated packet flow rate with the value of the sustained-data-rate field.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the flow manager can adjust the value of the burst-data-rate field and burst-duration field is based on current operating conditions in the router.
 15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the flow manager can detect whether a burst of data is being received at one of the one or more ingress data queues, and temporarily increase the packet flow rate of the one of the one or more ingress data queues upon detecting the received data burst.
 16. The apparatus of claim 13, the data queue head structure further including a time-stamp field for indicating when a poll of the data queue head structure was last performed; a bytes-processed field for indicating the number of data bytes processed during a present processing interval wherein the time-stamp field and the bytes-processed field are utilized for calculating the packet flow rate of the each of the one or more ingress data queues based on the respective values of the time-stamp field and the bytes-processed field.
 17. The apparatus of claim 13, each of the one or more ingress data queues having an allocated amount of the router memory in which to store received packets, further comprising a memory manager for monitoring and adjusting the amount of memory allocated to store the received packets in each of the one or more ingress data queues based on current utilization of the memory, wherein the data queue head structure further comprises: a queue-depth field for indicating the maximum number of packets allowed to be held in an associated ingress data queue, wherein the memory manager can adjust the queue-depth field in the one or more ingress data queues that will least adversely impact quality of service criteria; and a queue-count field for indicating the number of packets presently held in the associated ingress data queue. 